Chapter 9 The Late Middle-Ages: Social and Political Breakdown ...

AP European History
Summer Assignment 2011
Due: First class - either August 18 or 19 depending on even or odd scheduled class
This assignment can be done once you get your textbook, The Western Heritage, at
registration on August 11.
Goal: The goal of the summer assignment is to give you a basic understanding of the
events that came before the Renaissance. This is important because you will need a
basis for understanding how the Renaissance changed European society. It is difficult to
understand or even recognize that change unless you are familiar with what came
before.
Chapter 9 The Late Middle-Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300 –
1527)
Part I: Terms
Identify the following terms. Remember to explain each term within the appropriate
historical context. In general, explanations should be 1 – 2 complete sentences. Some
will require more detailed explanations than others and therefore will be longer. These
terms are covered in Chapter 9 in your text The Western Heritage. In addition to your
book, you may use encyclopedia articles or the internet.
Great Schism
the Avignon Papacy
Treaty of Troyes
Joan of Arc
John Ball
Council of Basel
Jacquerie
Philip IV
John Huss
Unam Sanctam
Council of Constance
John Wycliffe
Council of Pisa
Marsilius of Padua
longbow
Hundred Years War
Estates General
Pogroms
Taille
Unam Sanctam
Lollards
Conciliar Theory of
Church Gov.
Black Death
Part II: Questions
After reading the entire chapter, please answer each of the following questions in one
short, well thought out paragraph using complete sentences.
1. What are the three great calamities developed in the Chapter? Make sure you give a
short explanation of each.
2. What portion of the population is estimated to have been decimated by the Black
Death? What are the consequences of losing such a large portion of the population
3. What book is an excellent source for understanding the reaction of the people to the
Black Death? Why?
4. In peacetime, what were the favorite amusements of the nobility in the Middle Ages?
5. What was the process of attaining knighthood?
6. What was the purpose of “tournaments”?
7. The clergy of the Middle Ages were divided into what two groups? Explain how they
were different.
8. What were the duties of the secular clergy?
9. In the Late Middle Ages, why were the clergy resented by the townspeople?
10. Whose works became the primary focus for scholastic study?

11. What was the purpose of St. Aquinas’ Summa Theologica ?
12. How did Christian theologians of the period depict women? How do you think this
influence the way society saw women and how they were treated?
13. What effect did the high infant and child mortality rate of the Middle Ages have on
parents?
Part III: Primary Source Documents
Read the following Primary Source Documents from the chapter and summarize them in
YOUR OWN WORDS. Then answer the questions beside the red box on the page.
1. Boccaccio Describes the Ravages of the Black Death in Florence (page 300)
2. Marsilius of Padua Denies Coercive Power to the Clergy (page 306)
3. The Chronicler Calls the Roll at the Council of Constance (page 310)
Part IV: Art & The West (page 315)
Answer the questions on page 315 regarding death as it was depicted in medieval art.